Went to see Alton Brown Live down in Colorado Springs last night, and this — the Mega Bake Oven — was his over-the-top tribute to the Easy Bake Oven he was denied as a child. Instead of 100-watt bulbs it uses two arrays of stage lights, top and bottom. If I remember the figures correctly, it draws 54,000 watts and produces over 1,000,000 lumens and enough heat to bake a couple of pizzas in three minutes.

And that was at 87% power. Any higher and he’d have thrown the theater’s massive breaker.

But the highlight of the show for me was in the first act, when he was dismissing organic and sustainable foods. The problem, he said, is that it was impossible to know what those words actually mean after the government got involved. He added, “I’m 51 years old and I’ve never seen the government make anything better.”

“I’m 51 years old and I’ve never seen the government make anything better.” - So THAT's the context of that tweet yesterday. Thanx. (BTW, technical food definitions from "The Food Police" has been a running gag on Brown's Good Eats show.)

The show is great and a lot of fun to attend. He sure can put on an impressive, funny, and informative performance. I still watch reruns of his show Good Eats on Amazon and his recipes are both awesome and really work - always.

Soft corroboration for the idea that developing critical thinking skills - in any area (AB e.x.c.e.l.s in critical thinking about food) - minimizes stupid thinking and behaviors. One could hope schools would teach that - but we see how that's working out.